CBI Cracks Down: Two Held in UP Forest Corp Bank Fraud

A high-stakes banking fraud involving Uttar Pradesh Forest Corporation has led to the arrest of two prime accused by the CBI. The Rs 64 crore heist, executed through meticulously forged documents at Bank of India’s Lucknow outpost, came to light after the corporation disowned the transactions.

The plot, hatched with complicit public servants, relied on falsified KYC records, bogus authorization papers, and invented board minutes to establish a ghost account. Once in place, the fraudsters engineered transfers totaling Rs 64.82 crore, citing fixed deposit schemes.

Without delay, they funneled Rs 6.95 crore out via IMPS to scattered accounts in Kolkata and New Delhi, belonging to six shell entities. The deception was exposed when corporation officials confirmed no such dealings or authorizations existed.

CBI’s response was swift and multi-pronged: searches in several states, relentless tracking, and precision strikes resulted in the captures. Presented before Lucknow’s special court for corruption cases, the accused were granted 14-day police remand ending May 16.

Further inquiries aim to unravel the full syndicate, with suspicions of deeper involvement. Experts note this incident as a wake-up call for banks to deploy AI-driven fraud detection and stricter KYC protocols in an era of digital banking threats.